Ozark Fire appears poised to allow same-sex benefits

An Ozark Fire Department captain says she has been pleasantly surprised by the "outpouring of support" after the department appears ready to extend benefits to employees in same-sex unions, after the change was sought by the captain, who is married to a woman.

The department's board agreed to table a vote on defining a couple until the next meeting, Sept. 2, but three of five board members vocally supported including same-sex couples in the department's insurance plan.

"I support the change, because I think we need to be fair to all our employees," board member Dale Bittle said.

Capt. Andi Mooneyham said she received support from her friends and family following news of the meeting, but also received support from many people she's never met.

"It's a touchy subject around here," she said. "I was concerned about what the public response would be, but I was willing to take that chance to gain equal rights. And the response has been nothing but positive."

Bittle, Kenny Martin and Jay Johnson, who helped draft the language of the change, all spoke with support for extending benefits during the meeting. Board members Anthony Appleton and Jim Bowles said they would vote against amending the department's code.

The proposed change was presented by Mooneyham, whose marriage to her wife Tara Muck, is not recognized in Missouri.

Bowles was the first to speak against the extension of benefits, voicing concern with making a change not clearly defined by law.

"I don't think we need to be obligating a future board and district to pay this much on health insurance without the law saying so," he said. "I think what we already have is adequate."

Appleton said his opposition to the change was based only on what he thought residents would want him to do.

"I tried to lay my own personal beliefs aside and look at the community that we represent," he said. "I think this fire district, if we were to poll everyone, given the demographics and religious background of our community, I don't think our community would want me to vote in favor of this. It's absolutely nothing personal."

Mooneyham, speaking Wednesday, didn't want to challenge Appleton's opinion of how people would respond to the change, but she did say people might be surprised to find how accepting the community is of gay rights.

"I don't know what the results would be if you did poll everyone, but I think it would be eye-opening," Mooneyham said.

During the meeting, Appleton made a point to praise Mooneyham.

"I think Andi is a model employee," he said. "And that she is exactly the kind of people we want working for this department. And I don't think anyone on the board, including myself, wants anything to go against you or your relationship or anything like that."

Mooneyham has been with the department for eight years. She said she was pleased that the board appears to support the change.

"I think it's a great step in the right direction," she said. "Hopefully we can get this in place and be a leader among fire departments in this area."

Johnson had been working with Mooneyham to draft what he called "a fair and equitable" change that would "treat all partnerships the same if they met certain criteria." That criteria is essentially the existence of a marriage license recognized in any state.

"If someone was to go to the trouble to go to a state and make all the sacrifices to have a marriage performed, if it's good in that state, we would take it here," he said.

Martin agreed with the assessments of Johnson and Bittle.

"I think everybody needs to be treated the same," he said. "I think that would be the most fair thing to do."

Martin also spoke up at the meeting's end to say he sensed stress within the 18-member department over the issue of same-sex marriage benefits.

He urged firefighters not to let the issue divide them, and Appelton added to that, saying the burden should fall on the board.

But murmurs from the crowd, which included many firefighters, indicated it was too late to stop a division.

"I ask that you guys hold off on voting it until you can have a law firm look at it and make sure the language is correct," he said.

When the board first asked Thompson for the union's position, he said the union was "not involved in this," but he later asked that he be allowed to get a vote from firefighters before the board made a decision.

Springfield firefighter Shawn Martin, president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 152, which includes Ozark, said the local union's parent organization has already taken a stance on the issue, that union members are protected on the basis of sexual orientation — essentially, the IAFF would support benefits for members in same-sex marriages.

He said he doesn't believe any other department in the district, which also includes Springfield, Nixa, Battlefield and Logan-Rogersville, has discussed the issue.

City of Springfield spokeswoman Cora Scott said the City, and by extension the fire department, does not currently offer benefits to employees in same-sex marriages.

Last fall, Missouri State University added "domestic partnership" benefits for employees, despite the fact that the Missouri Constitution defines marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Several months earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down parts of the Defense of Marriage Act, which has led to changes in how states write policy in regard to same-sex marriages.

A group of 10 same-sex couples are part of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union pushing for marriage recognition in Missouri.